diverse minds - breakthroughs can happen
I love physics, but when I first started studying for the SAT physics test I struggled with the way the same laws and concepts were interpreted differently in Russian and English. While physics sources in Russian focused more on applying sophisticated math and physics principles into solving problems, questions in English from Khan Academy, even though they seemed easy on the face, were the hardest problems I ever encountered. They concentrated not on my knowledge of formulas and rules, but my core understanding of those laws and my ability to apply them through real-life examples in SAT questions. That was a very challenging and exciting process for me. Learning how to interpret the differences in American and Russian science education systems has helped me with problems during International Science Olympiads in more deep, well-rounded ways. For me personally, the definition of diversity is observing and learning something which captivates me from different angles and sources, because having multiple sources of knowledge helps me not only experience different standpoints on Physics theories but also helps me build my view of other cultures and their relationships with science.
I firmly believe that it is the intellectual diversity of opinions and collaborative contributions to science that has made our societies more advanced, both technologically and culturally. This can be seen even in the debate over light's particle-wave duality. English Newton put forward that light was made of particles, whilst Scottish Maxwell argued that it was actually in wave form. And then, German Einstein says - why not both? If it were not for these three scientists' intellectual arguments and Einstein's curiosity of combining both of these theories, the world's outlook on light and atoms would be vastly different. I believe that our modern societies need diversity because when diversity comes with the intellectual collaboration of genius minds... breakthroughs happen.
